


Dog Tags

by PirateOwl



Category: Captain America (Movies)
Genre: Captain America: Civil War (Movie) Spoilers, Gen, captain america drabble
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-12
Updated: 2016-05-12
Packaged: 2018-06-08 02:12:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 489
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6834853
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PirateOwl/pseuds/PirateOwl
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Inspired by a Tumblr post about Bucky and Steve switching dog tags for each mission because Bucky claims they can't die if they are wearing the wrong dog tags because that isn't allowed. After a while they quit switching before and after missions and just keep each other's tags. When Bucky falls, he is wearing Steve's tags, and when Steve crashes the plane, he is wearing Bucky's.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Dog Tags

Bucky loses Steve’s dog tags. The men who retrieve him are confused. Zola wanted them to get Sergeant Barnes. The man they found nearly dead in the ravine has the name Captain Rogers around his neck. When he mumbles his name through the haze of pain, drifting out of consciousness before he even gets to his serial number, they aren’t sure if that is his own name or if he is calling out for a friend. Once Zola turns up he say “Sergeant Barnes,” and one of the men interrupts. “That’s Captain Rogers. We found this on him.”

He never sees the dog tags again.

Once in a while, for variety’s sake, he repeats Steve’s name, rank, and serial number instead of his own. It becomes an inside… joke is not the right word for it, but a reference to that initial confusion. It makes things easier sometimes during the torture that follows, the reminder of what he is holding on for, the reminder of Steve always getting back up to take another hit in his stupid back alley fights. Thinking of that gives him the strength to take another hit long after his own strength is exhausted.

It isn’t until halfway through Civil War that Bucky even thinks about the dog tags again. It’s an old habit they both used to have, checking their dog tags before heading into battle. Steve pulls out the tags, then sticks them back beneath the uniform before they land in Siberia.

“Didn’t we swap?” he asks. Some of his memories are still a little uncertain, and even if they did, it’s been seventy years. Steve is bound to have new tags by now. Steve smiles, the same smile he gets every time Bucky mentions remembering something. If they get out of this, Bucky hopes to cause that smile more often. Steve pulls the tags out again and holds them out for inspection, showing Bucky the tags that used to be his.

“You always said we couldn’t die wearing the wrong tags. It wasn’t allowed.”

Bucky snorts, almost a laugh. The closest he’s come to laughing since everything. “Take a look at us, pal. I must have been right.” He frowns in thought. “I guess I lost yours.”

“Then I guess we’ll just have to get you a new set when we get back.”

A few days later in Wakanda, Steve gives Bucky a new set of dog tags with Steve’s name. “Can’t have you dying just because you aren’t wearing my tags.”

Bucky smiles, but it is tinged with sadness. Maybe the superstition is right and Steve’s tags around his neck will protect him, but it won’t protect anyone else against the words in his head. He knows what he has to do. He stares down at the dog tags, reading Steve’s name, rank, and serial number, once again borrowing strength to follow Steve’s path and do what he needs to do.


End file.
